Roasting and smelting furnace



No. 623,833. Patented Apr. 25, I899. J. A. RUSSELL.

BOASTING AND SMELTING FURNACE.

{Application filed July 80, 1898.) (No Model.)

Wain... W w W ATTORNEY.

umu, wanmcmu u c rrs TATES JAMES A. RUSSELL, OF TACOMA, WVASHINGTON.

ROASTING AND SM E-LTING FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,833, dated April 25, 1899. Application filed July 30,1898- Serial No. 637,359- (No model.)

To (ZZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES A. RUSSELL, a citizen of. the United States, residing at Tacoma, in the county of Pierce and State of Vashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roasting and Smelting Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to furnaces used for roasting, smelting, and reducing ores and in which superheated gases are used as fuel. It is preferably designed for the use of gases to be produced within the furnace from liquid hydrocarbons, as hereinafter described, though it is adaptable to any fu rnace in which gaseous fuel is used.

Myinvention comprises a peculiarly-shaped hearth located between the two sets of superheating and generating chambers common to furnaces of this character.

It also comprises some improvements in the method of producing hydrocarbon gases.

The objects of my invention are, first, to build a furnace with a hearth of such form that one part of it may be used to smelt and reduce the ore while the other part is being used to roast ore preparatory to smelting, and, second, to simplify the means for producing fuel gases from liquid hydrocarbons.

The novelty of my improvement will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a vertical section lengthwise of the furnace at 1 1. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the furnace at 2 2 andshows the plan of the furnace-hearth. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the furnace at 3 3 and indicates the improved means for generating the hydrocarbon gases.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several views. I p

The essential novelty of my invention is in the peculiar form of the hearth A A. The novelty consists in the inclination of the hearth to the right and left from the center toward the superheating-chambers a, 17, c, and d, located at the two ends of the furnace and of the lead wells B B, located at the foot 4 of each incline, all of which is shown in Fig.

1. The hearth and furnace-chamber also widen from the center to the right and left,

' planation.

as shown in Fig. 2. The hearth is supported on a strong arch or other suitable means between the superheating or gas-generating chambers at a proper height to allow the gases to unite in combustion at a point where the heat will be applied most efiectively.

The fuel gases are supplied alternately through the superheating-chambers filled with checker-work of refractory material, a process too well known to require further ex- I have here devised an improvement in the means for making the hydrocarbon gases that is difierent from methods heretofore used. The superheating-chamhers I? and c are each built with an offset, dividing them into two parts, as shown in Fig. 1. An opening D is built through from side to side of the furnace directly above the lower part of each of these chambers. In these openings are located the pipes g for supplying the oil or liquid carbon to the gas-generating chambers. The oil is discharged on the wedge-shaped piece h, lying on the top of the checker-work of refractory material,by means of which it is quickly decomposed or vaporized. The steam-pipe 70, located at the bottom of the chamber, supplies steam from the boiler E. The steam rises through the heated checker-work and is quickly decomposed and unites with the vaporized oil at h, thus forming a fixed hydrocarbon gas as they mix and pass together through the upper part of the checker-work to the smelting-hearth.

The air used for combustion is admitted through the lines 6 and f and is highly superheated by passing through chambers a and cl alternately into the furnace through the ports 19. The heated air and gases meet at F, where combustion takes place, producing a high heat on the hearth A.

The furnace is designed to haveafeed-door H on one or both sides of the center slightly above the apex of the hearth. WVe will snppose the furnace heated and in operation, with the fuel gases and heated airbeing supplied through the superheating-chambers on the right-hand end of the furnace. The ore to be reduced is mixed with the required proportion of flux and is put through the doors H and spread evenly over the inclined hearth at the left-hand end of the furnace. The

gases in combustion produce the most intense heat on the right-hand incline of the hearth and, continuing to the left, the ore 011 the lefthand incline is roasted by the less intense heat of combustion. The waste products of combustion on leaving the furnace pass down through the chambers at the left-hand end of the furnace to fines at the bottom, thence out to a connecting-flue K, from which a main flue L leads to the main stack M.

It is to be observed that the waste products of combustion highly superheat the chambers of checker-work preparatory to producing the fuel gases from the left end of the furnace. The boiler used to generate the steam is located over the. main flue L, with a damper-door K under the fire-box so swung that the heat of the fl ue maybe drawn through the boiler-furnace and the waste heat be thus utilized for generating the steam required for producing the gases.

The furnace is reversed by shutting the air and liquid hydrocarbon off from the righthand end of the furnace and turning them into the freshly-heated chambers at the left end and by closing the left-end flue-gates and opening the gates at the right-hand end. The right-hand incline of the hearth is now covered with a supply of raw ore, and the ore on the left-hand slope,n ow thoroughly roasted, is directly exposed to the intense heat of the burning gases and is readily smelted. The melted metals collect in the trough-shaped lead-well B, from which the bullion is drawn out through the tap-hole N. The slag flows out the slag-spout P.

The process of reversing the furnace may be continued indefinitely, the time between reversals being varied as required by the character of the ore.

The mechanical means for supplying the gases and air and for reversing the furnace do not materially differ from those now used in furnaces of this kind. The opening D is a new device and provides a means for supplying the oil or liquid carbon in the middle of the chamber of heated checker-work without exposing the supply-pipes to the heat. This prevents the pipes becoming clogged with baked carbon and allows the oil to run freely. By this means a constant supply of oil can be delivered to the generating-chamber in any required proportion. The serious difficulty of controlling the gases is hereby overcome.

The form of the hearth is such that it is most easily supported on an arch or a series of arches, which has the advantage of both heating metals for rolling, forgipg, or for other purposes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A roasting and smelting furnace having a hearth inclined downwardly in opposite directions from its central portion, gas generating and superheating chambers located on opposite sides of the hearth, and means for cutting off said chambers in alternation from said hearth whereby the heated gases may be directed in alternation over said double-inclined hearth and the inclines of the hearth may be used in alternation for roasting and smelting the ores, by permitting the gases from one chamber to pass first over one incline to smelt the ore thereon and from thence over the other incline to roast the ore thereon and so on in alternation, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. A combined roasting and smelting furnace having a hearth inclined in opposite directions from a central point or apex, and a lead-well at the base of each incline, each in cline of the hearth so made as to gradually widen from said apex to the lead-well, and gas generating and superheating chambers located on opposite sides of the hearth so that each incline will be alternately exposed directly to the combustion of the gaseous fuel.

3. A roasting and smelting furnace having a hearth sloping and widening from a central summit, superheating and gas generating chambers at each end of said hearth, said generating-chambers each divided by an offset into two parts, an opening from side to side of the furnace above the lower part of each of said generating-chambers and means in said openings for alternatelydischarging liquid hydrocarbons into said lower generatingchambers.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES A. RUSSELL.

\Vitnesses:

G. W. BULLAI-n), T. If. \VILKINs.

ICC 

